Fishing pioneer says pirates 'strip mining' toothfish

The first fisherman to legally pioneer Australia's high Antarctic waters is pulling out of the region, saying the rich toothfish resource there has been strip-mined by pirates.

Illegal fishing that has plagued sub-Antarctic islands has now moved further south to the ice-strewn waters of the high Antarctic, a tightly regulated global nature reserve.

Queensland-based fisherman Dave Williams said he had decided to pull his state-of-the art longline fishing boat Eldfisk out halfway through his second season in the ice.

Advertisement

He said Eldfisk's crew had seen eight pirate vessels in five weeks but its own toothfish catch was embarrassingly small. "High Antarctic toothfishing is in the history books already," said Mr Williams. "It's an international tragedy happening at the moment, and no one's that concerned."

Australia claims a 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone off the 5000-kilometre coastline of the Australian Antarctic Territory. But under the Antarctic Treaty, all territorial claims are suspended and Federal Government fishing laws for the zone can apply only to Australians.

The treaty declares Antarctica a global nature reserve. Its subsidiary Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) controls fisheries but has no enforcement powers, instead relying on member countries to police their nationals.

The Eldfisk reported to the Federal Government that it had identified a Uruguayan-flagged vessel, Lugal Pesca, fishing in Prydz Bay, about 2500 nautical miles south-west of Perth.

Uruguay is a member of CCAMLR but the commission at its last meeting did not allow any Uruguayan flagged vessels to fish in the Prydz Bay region.

Lugal Pesca has had several brushes with authority in the past year. Last March the South African Government seized a $2.5 million load of toothfish it alleged came from this ship.

Last winter it was photographed by a licensed fisher inside France's exclusive economic zone around Kerguelen Island, adjoining Heard Island.

According to the Perth-based Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators, Lugal Pesca is one of 18 active longliners owned by Spanish fishing syndicates but mainly flagged through Uruguay.

Another Uruguayan-flagged vessel, Maya V, was arrested last week near Heard Island by the RAN frigate Warramunga. This followed the 21-day chase last year by Australia of the longliner Viarsa, also registered in Uruguay.

Mr Williams said although illegal operators appeared to be making a commercial catch in the high Antarctic, onerous conditions placed on his licence by the Federal Government were partly to blame for his decision to leave the fishery.